Matthew 3

Matthew 3:7

John the Baptist addresses suitable admonitions to those that attended his ministry, and proclaims the approach of the Messiah. Mat. III. 7—12: Mark I. 7. 8: Luke III. 7—18.

MAT. III. 7.

WHEN John opened his ministry there were two different sects among the Jews; that of the Pharisees, who were exceeding strict in ceremonial institutions and in the observation of human traditions; and that of the Sadducees, who, among other very obnoxious notions, denied the existence of spirits, and a future state of rewards and punishments: yet some of both these sects, out of curiosity or popular custom, or for some other unknown reason, attended on the preaching of this holy man: And when he saw among the multitudes that came to be baptized by him, that many both of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to receive his baptism, as he well knew the open profaneness of the one and the secret wickedness of the other, he did not flatter them at all in his address, but said unto them, as with some surprise, O ye abominable broods of vipers, crafty, malignant, mischievous creatures, who hath taught you to put on this form

a Pharisees and Sadducees.] The most authentic account of these sects may be seen in Joseph. Antiq. Jud. lib. xviii. cap. 1. (al. 2) & Bell. Jud. lib. ii. cap. 8. (al. 7) Haverc. All writers of Jewish Antiquities describe them largely; but, I think on the whole, none better than Dr. Prideaux, Connect. Vol. II. pag. 335—343.

b Coming to receive his baptism.] I express it in this manner, for, though some understand the words ἐσὶ τὸ βατρίτμα αὐτοῦ, of their coming to oppose his baptism, I think the reasons for that interpretation not worth mentioning here, and refer my reader to Raphelius, who has given

them a larger examination than they deserve. Annot. ex Xen. p. 7—11.

c O ye broods of vipers.] Some think this to be understood as if it had been said, Ye wicked children of wicked parents: but such a reflection on their parents is no necessarily implied. The children of pious Eli are called sons of Belial, merely with reference to their own licentious characters as they knew not the Lord. See I Sam. ii. 12. The word Γεωμία may be used in the plural number in reference to the different sentiments, and, if I may be allowed the expression (familiar enough to the Jewish doctors,) the different families of these sects in question.

They are ex vorted to repentance.

of humility and repentance, and admonished you to flee from the wrath which is surely and speedily to come? What is it that hath moved you to it, when you Pharisees think yourselves so secure from it on account of the pretended sanctity of your lives, and you Sadducees imagine it to be no other than a mere fable and a dream? Let me exhort you therefore, if you design to be baptized by me, to make it your serious and resolute care to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, and to act like those that are penitents indeed, forsaking as well as confessing your sins. And, if you neglect this, do not presumptuously think it will be to any purpose for you to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father,ᵈ relying on your descent from that holy patriarch, and your being that seed of his with whom a peculiar covenant was made: for I solemnly say, and declare it unto you as a certain and important truth, That God is able of these very stones that are before your eyes,ᵉ which he can animate and sanctify whenever he sees fit, to raise up those who, though not descended from human parents, shall be in a much nobler sense than you children to Abraham, as being made the heirs of his faith and obedience; and he would sooner work such a miracle as this than he would suffer his promise to fail, or admit you to the blessings of his approaching kingdom, merely because you have the abused honour to descend from that peculiar favourite of heaven.

These are truths of constant concern, and now particularly seasonable; for the patience of God will not much longer endure so provoking a people. You think of national deliverance, but beware of national judgments; for

ᵈ We have Abraham for our father.] Dr. Whitby well shews how great the presumption of the Jews on this relation to Abraham was. Munster, on this text, quotes a remarkable passage from the Talmud, in which it is said, “That Abraham sits next the gates of hell, and doth not permit any wicked Israelite to go down into it.” These Jews might perhaps pervert the promise in Jer. xxxi. 35, 36, to support this vain and dangerous confidence, in opposition to such a multitude of most express and awful

threatenings; particularly Deut. xxxii. 19, & seq. ᵉ Of these very stones that are before your eyes.] The many learned commentators who refer this to God’s calling the Gentiles, supposing some of them to be present here, seem to lose all the beauty of the expression; which I have paraphrased at large, because I think few, if any, have set it in so strong a light as it will well bear. It is but a precarious conjecture that the stones here referred to were those set up in Gilga. Josh. iv. 3, 20.

John’s awful warning and advice.

I assure you that the hand of God is lifted up, and the axe of Divine Justice is even now, as it were, applied to the very root of the trees; and therefore every tree that doth not produce good fruit, (even every one that, while he professeth himself to be one of God’s people, contradicts that profession by a life of wickedness, or by the neglect of vital and practical religion) is very certainly and quickly to be cut down by death, and thrown into the fire of hell.

Upon this many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, who expected to have been treated with greater respect, were so provoked that they turned their backs upon the prophet, and refused to be baptized. (Compare Luke vii. 29, 30; and Mat. xxi. 25.) But it was otherwise with the common people, who were alarmed by what he said, and the multitudes, who were more teachable, asked him, saying, What then shall we do, that we may be prepared for the kingdom of the Messiah, and may escape this dreadful condemnation and approaching wrath? And he answereth and saith unto them, Be careful not only to observe the ceremonies of religion, but to attend to the great duties of justice and of charity too, which are incumbent upon you as well as on the great and rich; and he, for instance, that hath two coats, let him impart one of them, to him that hath none; and he that hath plenty of food, let him do the like.

Then there came also some of the Publicans to be baptized: now these Publicans were a set of men whose office it was to collect the taxes which the Romans had imposed on the Jews, and to pay them to others who were called the chief of the Publicans; and these people being generally persons of an infamous character, for their injustice and oppression applied themselves to John under a strong conviction of their guilt, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do to testify the sincerity of our repentance?

Is very certainly and quickly to be cut down? It is expressed, in the original, in the present text; and it may be of some importance to observe here that, in scripture language that which is very sure, and very dear is spoken of as if it was already done.

Thus Christ speaks of himself as if he was already in possession of his glory, while he was here on earth, John xvii. 24; and sinners too are represented as condemned already John iii. 18; and saints are spoken of as already glorified. Eph. ii. 6; and Heb. xii. 22. 2.

John proclaims the approach of the Messiah

And he said unto them, Though you are not absolutely required to quit your employment, take care that you exact nothing more than is enjoined you by your principals, whose servants you are in collecting the public money.

And the soldiers also applied themselves to him on the same occasion, and in like manner asked him, saying, And, as for us, what shall we do? And he said unto them, Terrify no man by a violent overbearing conduct, nor wrong [any] by false accusation, in order to get a liberty of living upon him at free quarters; and be contented with your legal wages, or pay, not raising mutinies and seditions to get it increased.

And, as the people were in great suspense, and all were reasoning in their hearts with much solicitude concerning John, debating the matter with themselves, whether he were the Messiah or not, John answered all that put the question to him, in the most direct and positive manner, saying, I indeed baptize you with water, to engage you to the exercise of repentance, which by submitting to that rite you solemnly profess; but there is one coming after me, even the Messiah himself, who is much more powerful and considerable than I can pretend to be (see John x. 41) whose very shoes I am not worthy so much as to carry after him, [or] to stoop down and untie the latchet of [them,] but should esteem it as an honour to perform the humblest office of menial service for him. And, if you are indeed his people, he shall baptize you with a most plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit and with fire;

g The soldiers applied themselves to him.] There is no reason to believe that these were Gentile soldiers. Grotius has excellently proved that the Jews in general did not scruple a military life; and a multitude of passages from Josephus might be added to the same purpose: and though most of the soldiers in Judea, which was now a province, might be Romans, yet those belonging to Galilee might probably be Jews. Had these been Gentiles, John would surely have begun his instructions to them with urging the worship of the true God.

h Terrify no man.] The word ἀγαπησία properly signifies “to take a man by the collar and shake him;” and seems to have

been used proverbially for that violent manner in which persons of this station of life are often ready to bully those about them whom they imagine their inferiors in strength and spirit; though nothing is an argument of a meaner spirit, or more unworthy that true courage which constitutes so essential a part of a good military character.

i With your legal wages or pay.] The word ἀγαπησία is well known to signify provision or food; but, when applied to soldiers, it is generally used to signify the pay that was allotted for their subsistence. (Compare Rom. vi. 23; where it is rendered wages; and 1 Cor. ix. 7; where we translate it charges.

id warns them of the consequences of it.

causing his Spirit to descend upon his followers in the appearance of a flame of fire, to represent its operating on the heart like fire, to kindle pious and devout affections, and to purify and enliven the souls of believers. (Compare Acts i. 5; and ii. 3.)

But you are to remember this is an awful as well as an amiable Person, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly winnow and cleanse his church, which is (as it were) his threshing floor, and at present is covered with a mixture of wheat and chaff: for such will be the nature of the doctrine he shall teach as will effectually discover what is the real disposition of the hearts of men, and perfectly distinguish between the hypocritical and the sincere. And happy will it be for those that stand the trial; for he will carefully gather them, as the wheat into his granary, and lay them up in heaven as his peculiar treasure: but as for the chaff which is found among them, as for those empty vain professors that are now mingled with his people, he will then treat them as men do the sweepings and the refuse of the floor, and burn them up as worthless and unprofitable trash; and I faithfully warn you that it will be with unquenchable fire: let this excite you therefore to escape so terrible a doom. (Compare Isa. xli. 16; Jer. xv. 7; and Ezek. xxii. 15.)

The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.] There is in what the Baptist here declares an evident allusion to the custom burning the chaff after winnowing, that it might not be blown back again, and so be mingled with the wheat: and, though it may in part refer to the calamities to come upon the Jewish nation for rejecting Christ (as Bishop Chandler has observed in his Defence of Christianity, p. 85,) yet it seems chiefly to intend the final destruction of all sinners in hell, which alone is properly opposed to the gathering the wheat into the garner (compare Mat. xiii. 40, 41, 42:) and howsoever it be certain that the word grow, in Greek authors does generally signify all that is left of the corn when the grain is separated, including the straw (see Raphel. Annot. ex Xen. in loc. and Gen. xxiv. 25-32. Septuag.) yet I apprehend that in this place it must be equivalent to

grow, and signify chaff as distinguished from straw; since one can hardly imagine either that any thing so useful as straw would be made the symbol of these worthless reprobates, or that it would be represented as burnt up. As to the phrase of burning the chaff with unquenchable fire Mr. Horberry has observed, with his usual accuracy of judgment (Inquiry into the Duration of Future Punishment, Chap. i. No. 1, 2,) that it is absolutely inconsistent with all views of the restoration of the wicked; and that, however the phrase of being consumed like chaff might seem to favor the doctrine of their annihilation (which nevertheless it is certain no punishment of mind or body can of itself effect,) the epithet of unquenchable given to this fire is so far from proving it, that it cannot, by any easy and just interpretation, be reconciled with it.

Reflections on the ministry of John the Baptist.

XVI. Luke III.18 Such was in general the tendency and purport of John’s preaching: And, offering many other exhortations to them to the same effect, he published to the people these glad tidings¹ of the Messiah’s approach, and endeavoured to prepare them to receive him in a proper manner; as will be more particularly shewn hereafter. (See John i. 15, & seq. and iii. 28, & seq.)

And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people

IMPROVEMENT.

Mat. iii. 7 WHAT an excellent pattern of ministerial service does John exhibit in the passage before us! Blessed is that gospel preacher who, like him, seeks not his own ease and pleasure, and indulges not too luxurious and sensual inclinations, but cheerfully accommodates himself to the state and circumstances which Providence hath assigned him, as infinitely more intent on the success of his ministry than on any little interest of his own that can interfere with it! Happy the man who, imitating the impartiality of this faithful servant of God, giveth to every one his portion of meat in due season, and abhors the thoughts of flattering men in their vices, or buoying them up with delusive hopes in their birth and profession, while they are destitute of real and vital religion!

Mat. iii. 9 May this plain and awakening address be felt by every soul that hears it! And, in particular, let the children of religious parents, let those that enjoy the most eminent privileges and that make even the strictest profession, weigh themselves is this balance of the sanctuary, lest they be found wanting in the awful decisive day. And if the warnings of the gospel have alarmed our hearts, and put us upon fleeing from the wrath to come, oh, let the terrors of the Lord engage us not only to confess but to forsake our sins, and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance!

Let all to whom the gospel message comes most attentively and seriously consider in what alarming circumstances of danger and extremity impenitent sinners are here represented. The gospel is the last dispensation we must ever expect; the axe is at the root of the unfruitful tree, and it must ere long be cut down and burnt, be its branches ever so diffusive and its leaves ever so green.

Luke iii. 17 Christ hath a fan in his hand to winnow us as well as the Jews, O that we may stand the trial! And oh that, as his wheat, we may be laid up in the storehouse of heaven when that day cometh which shall burn as an oven, and when all that do wickedly shall be consumed as stubble and be burnt up as chaff! (Mal. iv. 1.)

Published these glad tidings.) For by the Baptist, it does not seem so proper for this has plainly this import; and as it here to render it by preaching the gospel, was a very imperfect intimation, rather than though the word has often that signification; a full discovery of the gospel that was given see Mat. xi. 5, Luke iv. 18; and Acts viii. 4, &c.

and the danger of impenitent sinners.

And to conclude: that we may be prepared for that final trial, let us be earnest in our applications to our gracious Redeemer, that as we are baptized with water in his name, he would also baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with fire; that, by the operations of his Holy Spirit on our cold and stupid hearts, he would enkindle and quicken that Divine life, that sacred love, that flaming, yet well governed, zeal for his glory, which distinguishes the true Christian from the hypocritical professor, and is indeed the seal of God set upon the heart to mark it for eternal happiness.